By comparison, Jimmie Johnson has about 450,000, and Brad Keselowski, an avid tweeter, about 420,000.

She hasn’t won a NASCAR championship or race. Johnson (five) and Keselowski (one) have six Sprint Cup titles between them and dozens of race wins.

Danica Patrick wouldn’t suggest she is as successful as Johnson or Rochester Hills-born Keselowski, but there’s no denying she is the most popular and watched race-car driver in the country — with apologies to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the Junior Nation.

Patrick also is one of the most hospitable, based on a visit I made to her motor coach Friday at Michigan International Speedway, not long before she was due to practice in her No. 10 Go.Daddy.com Chevrolet for Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400. She will start 37th on Sunday.

She seems to have become comfortable with her role as a celebrity race-car driver. In her rookie Sprint Cup season for Stewart-Haas Racing, Patrick is becoming the full package — a role model for countless young people and a stock-car driver who is improving every time she hits the track.

After success in IndyCar, particularly at the Indianapolis 500, Patrick is embracing her NASCAR career but knows there’s plenty of room for improvement.

“We were slow at the start of the year,” Patrick said. “As a race team we were struggling, and as a driver we were searching for car balance and feel that would give me confidence to run faster and more consistently. I think we got that in the last month, and I feel we’ve been running better now.”

Patrick has star quality even though she is 28th in points and on a steep learning curve in Sprint Cup. You feel it sitting across from her.

“I’m really happy to play that role,” Patrick said of her appeal. “I’ve said it before: It’s just not because of me. It takes 43 drivers to make a race. But if they are really tuning in because of me, that’s great, too.”

Patrick is seeking respect from fellow Cup drivers. She realizes some might question her talent, her credentials and regard her as just a female racer who got lucky with sponsors because of her looks. Patrick said she believes she is earning it every week.

“I always do my best and try to respect my rivals,” said Patrick, who led much of the Daytona 500 in February and finished eighth. “When it is my turn and I’m up there running well, I hope they remember it and give the respect I’ve been giving them.”

“It’s nice to have someone to talk to who gets it,” Patrick said. “I don’t know about other people’s relationships, but when he decides to go testing, it’s not that I complain, ‘Baby, stay home.’ I say, ‘See ya, because I’m going to do the same thing.’

“We both know what we have to do, and there’s no questioning. We know there are mandatory things we have to do as drivers. But the bottom line is we enjoy each other’s company and going racing.”

Patrick has team owner Tony Stewart and teammate Ryan Newman to provide advice and pat her on the shoulder. But she prefers to make it on her own.

“It’s nice to have them there, and I do ask them questions,” Patrick said. “But at the end of the day, if it were as easy for someone to just tell you what to do, we could all write a book on it and make a lot of money. It’s not that easy — you have to learn it for yourself.”